Using NAT in Windows 2003 Server guest OS

[NozzaC]

Can I use NAT in my Win 2003 Server host? I can't seem to get it working and it occurs to me that the reason might be that it doesn't like the fact that VB itself is also acting as a NAT server and also that my server's externally facing IP is dynamic. Anyone had success doing this?

Thanks

N

[Perryg]

Why not use bridged? Your Win server will be a lot happier. If you must use NAT you will need to manually assign (in Win server) the address to the NIC, including the DNS not to mention that you will need to setup forwarding ports.

[NozzaC]

OK. Looks like I read the instructions incorrectly first time around - Bridged sounds like the correct choice

So if I use Bridged - could you possibly help me setting this up so that I have a Windows 2003 Server with 2 NICs and the ability to use it with DNS, DHCP and as a NAT router for the rest of the virtual network?

E.g. my DSL connection is a router: 192.168.1.1. My virtual LAN will be say 10.0.0.1 with subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. So how would I set this up?

Thanks

N

[Perryg]

I can point you in the right direction but the rest is going to be for you to do. It is not hard really you just need to set the basics and then continue from there.

For VBox you simple assign two virtual adapters in the guest settings, both bridged.
The rest is done inside the Win2003 server.

There are some really great guides on the Internet that will show you step by step how to do this. Type setup Windows 2003 server to use NAT in Google.com Change NAT to the other services and you will learn how to do them one at a time. I would start with DNS because the other services are going to depend on it and it is a lot easier if it is setup first. Then setup the DHCP and NAT. All network addressing for the Windows server must be static and you set this in the Windows server network manager.

If you run into a wall then ask specific questions that are related to VirtualBox and I or someone else will be glad to help you.

[NozzaC]

Both bridged? OK well that is different to what I've been trying. I assumed I'd have one as a virtual LAN only

[Perryg]

One real NIC (the host) and the (2) virtual NIC's for Windows server. Works really slick. I have that setup for my VPN access from outside the network. I use Windows 2003 ENt. and have no problems using it in a virtual environment.

[NozzaC]

I'm confused again now - not sure what you meant about the NICS on that post.

I have DNS and DHCP working ok already. In fact I had this setup working just fine on Virtual PC. I have one connected to my real NIC and the other as a virtual LAN. I have a the two seperate networks connected via the NAT in RRAS and it works as expected. But the what appears to be the same setup in VB doesn't work - I cannot connect to the internet from the server.

Is there some difference between Virtual PC and VB that I need to take into account? Why for instance can I not have 1 Bridged card (connected to my real NIC) and 1 virtual only NIC connected to the virtual network?

[Perryg]

I think we are saying the same thing here only differently. As far as the host NIC is concerned that is the one that your host uses to connect to the Internet.
Now you setup a virtual NIC in VBox that connects the guest to the Internet via Bridged. That will work fine.
But you need a second adapter in Windows to setup RRAS right? That is the other Virtual Adapter in VBox that your guest uses to connect to the network.

[NozzaC]

Yes, that's what I've done. I've done it in Virtual PC and VMware and both work as expected. But when I try it in VB it doesn't work. I'm wondering if there is something different about the way VB handles it. I know enough about Windows server to set up NAT etc (the wizard pretty much does it all anyway) but I think I'm missing something obvious or something.

If I set disable the LAN adaptor I can access the net just fine via the bridged adaptor. As soon as I enable it, I can't. I can access the LAN with no problems. It will resolve an web address to the IP but won't load the page. It's like it's confused about where the external gateway is - hence my concern about NAT configuration.